Written questions by Foy.

What steps she is taking to ensure the business rates system supports the regeneration of high streets.

The Government has already started the work of reforming our business rates system by introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers will benefit over 750,000 properties.The Government is paying for this through higher rates on the top one per cent of most expensive properties. This includes many large distribution warehouses, such as those used by online giants. The high value multiplier is 33% more than the multiplier for small RHL properties. The new RHL multipliers replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since the pandemic. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

How many and what proportion of prison education staff have been made redundant in each of the past 12 months.

The Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service are committed to ensuring that prisoners can access high-quality education and skills provision that supports rehabilitation and reduces re-offending. The contract does not require Education suppliers to provide routine information about redundancies, and as the majority of teaching staff are employed by external providers, it is not possible to provide the information requested.

Whether his Department plans to restore public funding for union-led workplace learning programmes.

The previous government ended the standalone Union Learning Fund (ULF) on 31 March 2021. The Adult Skills Fund funds a very broad range of provision, including to support the effective operation of Trade Unions such as for Trade Union Health & Safety Representatives. The Department is committed to working with employers, providers, and trade unions to ensure that high quality qualification and training pathways are meeting skills needs.

What recent assessment she has made of the number of course closures announced in higher education over the past year.

We are aware that some higher education (HE) providers are making difficult decisions about course consolidation and closures. As autonomous institutions, HE providers are responsible for managing their own finances. It is therefore right that they focus on ensuring their courses are financially sustainable.The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the HE sector’s financial sustainability. The department works closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape and level of risk.The government recognises that the sector's financial environment is challenging. This is why tuition fee caps were uplifted in line with forecast inflation for 2025/26, with further uplifts planned for 2026/27 and 2027/28. We will then legislate to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years. The department has also appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening its commitment to financial sustainability.

What recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the levels of the risk of insolvency among universities in England.

We are aware that some higher education (HE) providers are making difficult decisions about course consolidation and closures. As autonomous institutions, HE providers are responsible for managing their own finances. It is therefore right that they focus on ensuring their courses are financially sustainable.The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the HE sector’s financial sustainability. The department works closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape and level of risk.The government recognises that the sector's financial environment is challenging. This is why tuition fee caps were uplifted in line with forecast inflation for 2025/26, with further uplifts planned for 2026/27 and 2027/28. We will then legislate to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years. The department has also appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening its commitment to financial sustainability.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the international student levy on university incomes.

The International Student Levy will require higher education (HE) providers to pay a flat fee of £925 per international student per year. An impact analysis of the levy published in November 2025 estimated the income losses to the HE sector from the levy in isolation to be £270 million in its first year. The full impact analysis is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/international-student-levy-unit/international-student-levy/supporting_documents/international-student-levy-impact-analysispdf.HE providers are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their own finances. The department has announced increases to tuition fee limits in line with forecast inflation for the 2025/26, 2026/27, and 2027/28 academic years. We will also legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.Over the next five years, tuition fee limit uplifts could generate an additional £6 billion for HE providers, significantly outweighing the currently projected less than £1 billion cost of the levy. This approach ensures the sector benefits from compounding annual increases, delivering growing resources to support quality education and innovation.

How many Universal Credit fraud prosecutions were (a) withdrawn by his Department and (b) dismissed by a judge before trial in each of the last three financial years; and if he will provide a breakdown of these cases by (i) region and (ii) the primary reason recorded for the withdrawal of the prosecution.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) do not make decisions on whether to prosecute individuals and cannot make the decision to withdraw a prosecution. The DWP will complete the investigation and when appropriate hand the case files to the Crown Prosecution Service (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for Scotland), who will make the decision on whether to prosecute.

What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its internal review process for fraud investigations in cases where a claimant provides evidence of (a) identity and (b) location that contradicts the Department's initial findings.

The Department has robust investigation processes in place to address allegations of identity and residency fraud. The Department is also bringing in additional inspection of our end-to-end investigations following the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 through His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in England and Wales and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMICS) in Scotland.

Whether he plans to treat developmental language disorders in line with autism by matching levels of freely available support, training and information for parents and carers.

Community health services, including children’s speech and language therapy, are locally commissioned to enable systems to best meet the needs of their communities. NHS England is working with the Department for Education to identify and support children with speech, language, and communication needs by co-funding pathfinder sites to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child programme. The programme aims to identify and support children and young people in their early years and primary school settings with mild to moderate speech, language, and communication needs, reducing the rate of specialist referrals, and increasing workforce capacity through innovative workforce models.On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help integrated care boards (ICBs) and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and following a recent diagnosis of autism. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for autism assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing published guidance.

Whether he has considered requesting the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to set national clinical guidelines for developmental language disorders.

Topics for new or updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance are considered through an established prioritisation process. Decisions as to whether NICE will create new, or update existing, guidance are overseen by a prioritisation board, chaired by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer.The NICE Prioritisation Board considered developmental language disorder: diagnosis and management as a topic for guidance development at its meeting on 20 November 2025. They recognised that developmental language disorder is a significant condition that affects a large population. However, they agreed that there is unlikely to be sufficient evidence available at this time to be able to develop a useful and usable guideline. Therefore, the topic was not selected for guidance development at this time.

What assessment has been made of the potential merits of providing training to mental health teams on adapting their support to children with lifelong speech and language difficulties.

The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can now also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is going into its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist. In partnership with NHS England, the Department for Education has extended the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs in early years settings and primary schools. At the Spending Review, we confirmed that we will deliver on our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers by the end of this Parliament, roll out mental health support teams to cover all schools in England by 2029/30 and expand NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes. We have also already started piloting Neighbourhood Mental Health Centres. These pilots aim to provide open access care for anyone with a severe mental illness 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our aim is to have one Neighbourhood Health Centre in each community that brings together National Health Service, local authority and voluntary sector services in one building to help create a holistic offer that meets the needs of local populations including children with lifelong speech and language difficulties.

What steps she plans to take to improve a) universal, b) targeted and c) specialist speech, language and communication support.

Speech and Language Therapists (SaLTs) play a critical role in early intervention for children and young people. By breaking down communication barriers, they unlock learning, inclusion, and opportunity for every child.The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes extending the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.We are also continuing to grow the pipeline. In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is now in its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.Further plans to bolster this critical workforce will be set out in the forthcoming Schools White Paper.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Disabled Children’s Partnership and the Speech, Language and Communication Alliance's 2025 report entitled How to spend less and get better outcomes for children with speech, language challenges.

The department recognises that early identification and intervention is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews from University College London highlight the most effective tools and strategies to identify and support different types of needs. We recently announced new government-backed research which will aim to develop and test effective approaches to help early identification. The department is also working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential humanitarian impact of the reported demolition issued against 13 residential houses and a community centre in the village of Um al Khair in the occupied West Bank.

We are deeply concerned by the levels of settler violence, settlement growth, and demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. In all but the most exceptional cases, demolitions by an occupying power are contrary to international law. We urge Israel to halt demolitions and evictions of Palestinian communities. The UK Government supports Bedouin and Palestinian communities facing demolition or eviction in Area C of the West Bank through access to legal aid programmes and outreach to vulnerable and remote areas. Our officials in Jerusalem will continue to meet communities at risk of demolition and displacement.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a windfall tax on the profits of (a) banks and (b) other financial institutions.

The government’s position on the taxation of the banking sector remains as set out in the Corporate Tax Roadmap. The regime is kept under review to ensure that objectives around growth and fiscal responsibility are appropriately balanced.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of making (a) critical thinking and (b) problem solving key competencies in the education system.

It is important that young people are equipped with the key knowledge and skills to adapt to a rapidly changing world.The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which is evaluating the existing national curriculum and statutory assessment system in England, to ensure they are fit for purpose. It is considering whether there is sufficient coverage of knowledge and skills that are essential to sufficiently prepare children and young people for future life and to thrive.The Review’s interim report, published in March 2025, notes the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information, and states the curriculum must keep pace with these changes, including a renewed focus on digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills.The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of restricting the sale of fireworks to organised and regulated displays.

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of restricting the sale of fireworks to organised and regulated displays.The Government has launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign includes new guidance for those running community fireworks events, and new social media posts that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.The Government will continue engaging with businesses, consumer groups and charities to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks.

What steps he is taking to fund the specialist palliative care provided by hospices.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life, as well as their loved ones. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth of palliative care, including specialist palliative care, and end of life care provision within each ICB catchment area. It is important to note that hospices, like the NHS, provide both specialist and generalist palliative care and end of life care. Not all patients will require specialist palliative care. We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.  I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs and on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26.  This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

What steps he is taking to ensure equitable provision of palliative care in England.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.We will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.Additionally, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department is investing £3 million in a new Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care. This unit launched in January 2024 and is building the evidence base on palliative care and end of life care, with a specific focus on inequalities.On ICB accountability, NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must assess how well the ICB has discharged its functions.Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that charitable hospices play as well, which is why we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.  I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs and on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that hospices receive the required funding to increase staffing wages in line with nationally agreed NHS pay rises.

We are immensely grateful for the critical role healthcare workers, including hospice staff, play in our health service and the high quality, compassionate care they deliver.The impact that National Health Service pay uplifts will have on the hospice sector will depend on the structure of the charity, which includes the number of employees and the salary levels. Independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales.It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.  I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local integrated care boards and on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26.  This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.